Snow White and the Seven Shinobi
by zlinka
Summary: Hinata is a very beautiful, but shy princess. Her evil step-mother feels that Hinata is a risk to her power, so sends her out into the woods to be killed. Plans change and Hinata finds herself living with seven shinobi. Gaa/Hina
1. Chapter 1

Hello all, I thought I'd try my hand at another Gaa/Hina fic. Like the title says, it's a snow white story. So, enjoy, and let me know what you think. P.S. I do not own Naruto.

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Once upon a time in a kingdom far far away lived a princess who was most beautiful. Her hair was black as night, lips as red as blood, and her eyes were white as snow. Those who saw her believed her to be the fairest in the land, but not many saw her for she had a very shy disposition. Her name was Hinata.

Hinata's mother had died when she was very young. For many years she was raised by her father, but when she was about four, her father remarried. Hinata's new step mother prided herself on her looks and felt that it was her duty as queen to be the most beautiful in the land. She spent much money on beauty products and expensive new clothes. Although she was always nice to Hinata when the king was around, all the rest of the time the new queen ignored her step child.

Hinata didn't mind though. She spent her time by herself or in the library, where she studied nature and read fairy tales. She was very sweet and kind and all who knew her praised her beauty, just not in Hinata or the queen's presence. The queen could never bother to look beyond her own reflection to notice the beauty growing within the girl.

When Hinata was thirteen, the king died. Hinata cried for days on end. The funeral was the first time the queen had seen Hinata for a while. Due to her tears Hinata's eyes were swollen and puffy, her normally fair skin looked sallow and unhealthy. The queen was quite confident that she was the most beautiful woman there.

The years passed and Hinata grew more and more isolated. Her shy nature and her status as princess didn't allow for her to make many true friends. The friends she did have, she treasured, but she didn't get to see them that often. Eventually she grew so unused to speaking to anyone that she developed a stutter when she finally did end up speaking. The only time she didn't stutter anymore was when she sang.

One day when Hinata was 17 she strolled through one of the royal gardens and sang quietly to herself. It was a simple song, one she had heard the servants sing on many occasions. Because so few people ever heard Hinata sing, no one had ever told her if she sang well, but Hinata hoped she did, for singing was something that she loved, and it would devastate her if she were unable to sing well.

She started dreamily into a wishing well, enjoying the sound of her voice echoing back to her. If the echo was any indication, then Hinata was a very good singer in her estimation. She just didn't know how to approach people she could share her songs with.

Hinata heard a rustling behind her, and spun around quickly, stopping her song mid-note. There stood a man she had never met before. Hinata's wide eyes took in his appearance. He had wavy, almost messy red hair, a red tattoo on the left side of his forehead, and dark rings around his eyes. He stared at Hinata with an unreadable expression.

"E-excuse me," Hinata practically shouted, "I d-didn't k-know th-there w-was anyone out h-here. I-I d-din't m-mean to int-trude." With that sentence out of her mouth, she beat a hasty retreat to the sanctuary provided by the castle.

"Wait," she heard the stranger demand. "I just want to talk to you." Hinata was tempted to turn around and do that His voice was very deep and compelling, but her terrible shyness took over, so the best she could do was slow down her walk. "At least tell me your name."

From anyone else this would have sounded like pleading, but to Hinata, the sentence was still an order. "I-I'm H-hinata," she informed him quietly, not even sure if he heard her before she sped up and was through the door of the castle. Before she closed the door she peeked out of it, hoping to see the man one more time.

He stood there still, watching the door she had just gone through thoughtfully. When he made eye contact with her the right side of his mouth lifted slightly and he gave a brief courtly bow to her. Hinata eeped softly and shut the door quickly, her cheeks afire and her heart hammering loudly in her chest.

A small quiet voice in the back of her head said, 'I hope I get to see him again.'

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Tayuya stood naked in front of her mirror, staring at the perfection that was her body. Tayuya had always loved this mirror because it never lied to her or any of its previous owners. The mirror was the reason she had become queen, and it was the reason she remained queen, even though her popularity with the people of the country was very low.

"Peasants," she scoffed aloud, "They don't know how to appreciate all that I've done for them. The fact that I am fairest in all the land gives our nation power. So what if most of the national treasury goes towards furthering my beauty? The more beautiful I am the greater this nation is."

It stood to reason, Tayuya received her power through her beauty, so therefore her country received it's power through her beauty. Just to be on the safe side, she checked her power level with her monthly ritual.

"Mirror mirror on the wall. Who is the fairest one of all?" she asked, sure that she knew the answer.

"Fair you are, and always will," the mirror began. Tayuya started smiling in pleasure, but was interrupted, "But snow white is fairer still." Tayuya let out and undignified squwack of disbelief.

Who was this "snow white?" She knew that thought the mirror never lied, it didn't always tell the truth. "Snow white was probably not the real name of the usurper, and usurper she was for whomever this "snow white was, she was surely stealing Tayuya's power.

"Mirror," she demanded. "Show me this "snow white."" This way the mirror could not turn her head with more riddles while it talked. Her reflection faded away only to be replaced by Tayuya's step daughter. Hinata's face was impossibly flushed and her breathing was very deep. Tayuya would have said she looked frightened or angry, except for the soft smile that graced her lips.

Eventually her breathing slowed down and her flushed features calmed down to a soft glow about the face. Tayuya watched as Hinata's mouth moved, but no sound came from the mirror. Finally Tayuya could take no more of what she saw, she twirled away from the mirror and threw the curtain over it. Dramatically she flung herself upon her bed and lay there, panting heavily. She was too angry to cry, so instead she plotted.

The problem wasn't that Tayuya's beauty was lacking, it was that Hinata was more so. If only there was a way to disfigure her so that she wasn't so pretty. 'But scars can be overcome. What ever I do has to be permanent.'

The idea occurred to her over supper that evening. It was so simple she was amazed that it took this long to think of, but there were still details to iron out. She chuckled softly to herself as she took a sip of her wine.

'I shall never have to worry about that usurper again,' she thought smugly.


	2. Chapter 2

Hinata was seated, preparing to eat the delicious smelling breakfast she had helped cook. Whenever possible she liked to work around the castle, cleaning here, cooking there. She liked to feel useful, and because she was too young to help with the running of the country, she worked around the castle.

Hinata stood abruptly as her step mother entered the room. Tayuya draped herself over the chair closest to Hinata and watched as Hinata sat back down in her chair. Hinata's cheeks pinkened at the scrutiny. She turned to her breakfast and started taking tiny bites.

"Daughter," Hinata didn't like if when Tayuya addressed her in such a way, "You have been couped up in this castle for too long." Hinata didn't reply, because there was really nothing to reply to. "I think you should go on an outing today."

Hinata's brow wrinkled, she didn't like leaving the castle that often. There were so many new people and she was very shy. "T-that's alr-right y-your m-majest-ty. I d-don't w-want to c-cause any b-bother."

"Nonsense," Tayuya laughed, "It will be no bother at all. In fact I shall send my most loyal guard Neji to accompany you." Hinata timidly nodded, knowing that there was no way to get out of this. At least she knew Neji, and even though they weren't really friends, she would be able to talk to him, even if it was with a stutter.

Hinata took her time finishing her breakfast. She felt so nervous her stomach was in knots, but finish her breakfast she did, because she never felt right about wasting food and because she didn't know when she would have lunch due to the outing. After finishing her breakfast, Hinata took her plate to the kitchen, rinsed it in a sink, and made her way to meet Neji.

She took the long way to the back gate, through the garden she was in yesterday. It was hopeless, she knew, the red head she had seen yesterday probably lost interest, but she did hope that he would be there. 'I might even have the courage to speak with him today,' she blushed at her internal boldness.

Out of the corner of her eye she saw movement. Curiously she went to investigate. All was still in the garden, except by the well that she had been sitting at yesterday. Something in the shadows kept shifting ever so slightly. As she got closer she could make out the outline of someone.

"H-hello?" she called out softly.

The shadow shifted slightly and the stranger from the other day came into focus. "Hello Hinata," he said quietly, the right side of his mouth curving upward.

"O-oh, you h-heard th-that," she stuttered softly.

"I did," the man agreed. "Are you going to stay and sing?"

Hinata blushed, embarrassed that someone heard her sing. She shook her head shyly, avoiding eye contact with him. "M-mayb-be l-later th-this af-ftern-noon," she finally stuttered out, looking hopefully at him.

The left side of his mouth joined the right side in curling up. 'He has a very nice smile,' she thought as her eyes fixated on his mouth. "I look forward to it," Hinata heard him say. Numbly Hinata nodded and started to make her way to the back gate, where she was to meet Neji.

"O-oh!" a thought occurred to her. "Wh-what's your n-name?"

The stranger's lips separated, showing a row of strait and white teeth. It looked a little predatory to Hinata, but in a good way. "I'm Gaara," he answered. He said it in such a way that Hinata was sure that it was important, but Hinata had never heard that name before, so any important meaning was lost on her.

"N-nice t-to m-meet you, G-gaara," she said, curtsying politely before she beat a hasty retreat. That was the longest conversation Hinata had had in a very long time. She paused before she got to the back gate to compose herself. 'Can't have Neji thinking I've gotten sick,' she thought as she slowed down her breathing and tried to drain the color of her cheeks with the power of her mind.

Once she felt composed enough, she met Neji at the gate. "H-hello N-neji," she greeted shyly. Neji stood where he was, holding a picnic basket and looking grumpy.

"Princess Hinata," he greeted solemnly. He was being polite, but he still looked grumpy.

"Y-you d-don't hav-ve to ac-comp-pany m-me on the out-ting if you d-don't want to N-Neji," Hinata said, "I'm-m s-sure y-you have th-things you w-would much r-rather be d-doing."

Neji looked startled for a second, then tried smiling again. This time he looked a little sad, which confused Hinata. "This in no trouble for me Princess," he reassured her. "It will be my honor to escort you on the outing."

Hinata smiled softly at him. It was obvious, to her at least, that neither wanted to go, but neither could they back out of it gracefully. 'Well, let's make the most of it then,' she thought cheerful as she motioned him to lead the way. Neji pivoted sharply and marched out of the gate into the forest.

As they walked Hinata felt herself relax a little. She hadn't realized how tense she had been in the castle, but out in the woods, she felt as if a great burden had been lifted from her shoulders. Without realizing it she started humming quietly to herself as she looked around the forest in interest.

The two of the reached a small clearing some ways from the castle. Neji knelt down and began opening the picnic box. Hinata left him to do that while she explored the clearing.

She laughed aloud as a butterfly wafted by, mere inches from her face. For a while she followed it to a patch of wild flowers. Thinking to pick some and make a crown she knelt and began singing quietly to herself. She always hummed or sang when picking flowers, kind of like thanking the flowers with her voice.

With a bouquet of flowers in her hand, Hinata turned back to where the picnic basket would be. Instead of lunch, which she thought was what Neji was unpacking, she saw Neji standing far to close to her, knife in hand. Hinata backed up slowly, holding the flowers in front of her like a shield.

"N-neji. Y-you st-start-tled m-me," she said softly. Backing up even further as Neji got closer.

Neji grabbed hold of her arm and yanked her toward him, holding the knife up to her face. Hinata watched it, mesmerized by the way the light caught on the blade. Finally she managed to tear her gaze away from it and stared into Neji's eyes. Something was different about them, something she couldn't put her finger on.

"Please forgive me Princess," he whispered, so quietly that Hinata wasn't even sure that she had heard anything. "I have orders… from the queen…" His voice kept trailing off. "I don't want to hurt you… I have orders…" It was like he wasn't talking to her at all.

Hinata was too afraid to speak, too afraid to bring his attention back to her. She just watched his eyes as he struggled with his demons. Finally he must have come to a decision, because he focused on her again. Hinata inhaled sharply at what she saw, determination.

"The queen has sent me to kill you," Neji hissed in her ear, "But I find that I can not. You have to run. Get far away from here and never return, or else you'll never be safe." With those words he released her.

Hinata stumbled backward, dropping the bouquet so she wouldn't fall over. She looked Neji in the eye and saw the determination that was still there. With eyes wide and unfocused Hinata turned around and fled deeper into the forest, far away from all that she had ever known.

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He had followed Hinata when she left him. He saw her pause to compose herself after her meeting with him, then meet with a guard holding a picnic basket. Neither looked too thrilled to be there, but they left anyway. Gaara would have followed them if his sister hadn't tracked him down.

"Gaara," she shouted, "You had better not be planning on skipping out on this meeting today."

Gaara groaned at the thought of the meeting before him.

"It's a very important meeting. If all goes well our treaty will be renewed and we'll have some new trading routes," Temari reminded him for the millionth time.

"But I don't want to have to marry that bitch," Gaara muttered. He knew that as the younger son he would never inherit the throne of his home kingdom, but he was hoping that he would be lucky enough that whatever political marriage they set up for him would be with someone he could respect.

"You know that that's a last resort kind of thing," Temari said exasperated. "I don't think the queen wants to marry you either. If marriage is going to be suggested she'll go for Kankuro. Besides, there's a princess running around here. You might get to marry her."

"That's just what I need, to be tied to some spoiled princess forever. Probably doesn't have a thought in her bubble head either," Gaara didn't want his sister, another spoiled princess, to hear this remark. It would not go well for him.

"One of the footmen showed me a picture of the princess. She's pretty cute, or at least she was when she was ten or so. That's the most recent picture they had of her," Temari chattered on.

Gaara just shook his head at this. 'Probably became hideous after puberty.' An image of Hinata sitting at the well came to mind. 'Wouldn't be too bad to be tied to someone with her looks forever. That is if they didn't let themselves go afterward.'

Temari kept chattering on about something or other and bothering Gaara, so he left her there, mid sentence. That was two hours ago and Hinata hadn't returned. He had about ten more minutes until he had to get ready for the meeting with the queen. He had hoped to see Hinata before that, because after the meeting he knew he wouldn't be in the mood for anyone's company.

He made his way back to the gate where he had seen her leave, hoping that he could act surprised enough to pull of the "wondering around, what a coincidence," face if he ran into Hinata. As he rounded the corner he saw the gate open.

In stepped that guard Hinata left with, looking somber, and still carrying the picnic basket. The basket looked like it was heavier then it had been when they left, but that could be because the guard had been carrying it all day. Gaara waited for Hinata to step through the gate, but she never did. Gaara waited as the guard passed him before talking.

"Hey, could you help me?" he demanded, even though he asked a question. "I'm looking for a girl, about my age, yay high," Gaara held up a hand to indicate how tall Hinata was compared to him, "With long black hair and white eyes?"

The guard paused and looked at him curiously. "That sounds like the princess," Neji answered cautiously. "I have not seen her for several hours."

"Oh," Gaara answered distractedly. "Thanks." The guard nodded then continued on his way.

'Guess she didn't want to meet with me,' he thought a little disappointed. He straightened his shoulders and made his way to the castle. He went over the conversation with the guard again, one word nagging at him.

"Princess?" he asked himself aloud, grinning manically. The meeting he had been dreading all day began to look up.

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Hinata ran as though her life depended on it, because it did. She had to get as much space between her and Neji as possible. Branches caught and tugged at her hair, but Hinata didn't stop to untangle it. Soon her scalp felt as though it were on fire due to the ripping out of hair.

Her body started slowing down so her breath could catch up, but she didn't stop. She blindly continued forward, trying not to look too closely at her surroundings. What had once been a pleasant forest meadow covered in flowers was now a dark and scary place full of evil looking trees and creatures.

There was a sudden movement to the left of Hinata, which she tried to ignore. It was a very persistent movement though, keeping pace with her as she moved forward. Hinata inched further away from it while keeping it in view at all times. The movement stopped. Hinata waited several heartbeats before allowing herself to sigh with relief. She picked up her pace a little and ran strait into something dark. She felt herself being surrounded and jumped back. It was about that time that everything started to blur together.

She ran blindly trying to escape some unnamed terror. All around her she heard laughter and the rustling of leaves. She thought she found an opening out of the woods, someplace that would lead her to a village where she could be safe, but bats sprang out into her face. Hinata shrieked and spun away, eyes clenched shut. Something crumbled under her foot, causing her to fall. She landed hard on the ground, then felt something land hard on her body.

Hinata tried to push it off her and scramble up. Almost immediately she ran into something again. Her ankle twisted painfully underneath her with a sickening snap. It was at that moment that whatever control she had disappeared.. She didn't know where she was or what direction she was going. She was hungry and tired and scared and there was nothing she could do about it. It all became too much for her.

With a last burst of strength she stood up and took three agonizing steps to a clear spot of ground. No trees jumped out at her while she did this. She was going to take a good look around, that was her plan, instead she collapsed. Her whole world turned black upon impact.


	3. Chapter 3

Naruto Uzumaki was walking through the woods, on a mission for head light fluid for the car. He was very proud of his mission, it was meant that his house mates were finally taking him seriously. Not like the time they sent him out for elbow grease.

Although he was happy to do this mission for his roommates, he grumbled that he was the only one who had to go. It was a little too early for Naruto, he was tired and hungry because Chouji, the only guy in the house who could cook something other then toast, was still asleep. It was little wonder that he barely noticed a small cloth covered boulder that hadn't been there yesterday on the side of the road.

Naruto heard a sound from behind him. He froze and started reaching towards his kunai pouch before he spun around, looking for the source of the noise. Out of the corner of his eye, Naruto saw the new boulder shudder slightly, before making a mewling sound. Cautiously Naruto moved toward the boulder and poked it, only to find that the boulder was actually a girl with black hair.

Naruto brought his face closer to hers, then jerked back when she whimpered loudly. The girl was caked in mud, or at least it looked like mud, the smell emanating from the brown substance smelled rancid. He reached out cautiously, trying to find a clear spot on her body to lay his hand to shake her. He couldn't find one, so he just braved the "mud."

The girl groaned and tried to move away, but she didn't really wake up.

"Hey, girly," he shouted while shaking her, "This is not the place to fall asleep. You could get hurt." Again the girl tried to move away, but didn't try to wake up. Their combined movements caused her hair to shift aside and show a rather large goose egg on the side she had been laying on.

Naruto decided that he should take the girl to home with him. Someone there would know what to do. Carefully he sat her up, and positioned her so that he could easily lift her onto his back. The girl was limp, so it took a little longer then Naruto was used to, but he still managed it.

The walk home went by quickly. The adrenaline rush he was getting helped move him along the road fast. His senses were on overdrive in an effort to reach home safely with the injured girl in tact.

Naruto kicked open the front door when he arrived home. No one looked up from what they were doing. There were four men sitting in various positions around the room.

"Hey Dopey," a brown haired boy with red triangles tattooed to his face greeted from his spot in front of the television. "Did you get that headlight fluid we asked for?" The sound of barely suppressed laughter echoed throughout the room.

"OH!" Dopey, a.k.a. Naruto, shouted, "I totally forgot!"

This brought everyone's head up. Naruto did not forget his mission, he might get side tracked sometimes, but he never came home without completing it.

"What's that you brought?" a chubby guy with sandy blond hair asked as he rounded a corner. "Is it food?"

"You could eat her," a boy with short black hair in a tight belly shirt smiled from his spot on the sofa, "But the current rating for this story wouldn't cover that."

A yawn erupted from the spot next to him. A guy with his dark brown hair pulled back in a ponytail sat up groggily, "Hey Naruto, why are you carrying a girl?" he asked.

"I found her and I think she's hurt," Naruto answered, gently setting the girl on the closest clear surface available. It happened to be the end of kitchen table. Her knees dangled over the edge of the table, her head resting inches away from their breakfast plates. Everyone but the pony tailed boy gathered around to look at the girl.

The brown haired boy with the red triangles sneezed violently. "She reeks," he exclaimed, covering his nose with his hand.

"We should get her cleaned up. Then we will have a better idea of what injuries she might have," the black haired boy suggested innocently. "Dickless, go get the bathroom ready." This last comment was directed at Naruto.

"We will let her keep her dignity," a deep voice ordered. A boy with curly brown hair and sunglasses turned to Naruto, "Naruto, fetch some warm water and a clean wash cloth."

Although Naruto was tempted to ignore Shino's orders in favor of Sai's, he knew better then to cross the quiet one. "Sure thing Shino," he smiled, attempting to lighten Shino's mood a little.

"What's the matter Bashful?" Sai asked with a fake smile, "Afraid of a naked girl?"

Shino's only reply was to push his sunglasses further up his face. Sai continued smiling at the silent boy. Neither one was going to back down. Naruto returned with a bowl and the cloth. He handed both to Shino, who handed them to Chouji.

"Why do you want me to do it?" Chouji demanded.

"You are the least threatening one here, besides Shikamaru," the pony tailed boy yawned in protest of such slander. "That means you're the doc. Until further notice."

"Plus," Shikamaru called over from the couch, "I'm way over here and she's over there. Too much work."

"You're a class act Sleepy," Chouji responded dryly and he wet the wash cloth and wiped at the girl's cheek. She murmured something unintelligible and swatted feebly at the cloth.

"You just gotta wake up if you want it to go away," Sai taunted happily. The girl's eyes moved behind their lids, as though responding to his words. As Chouji continued his ministrations, the girl began to protest more. By the time Chouji had reached to clean of the skin on her arm, she was completely awake and struggling with a purpose.

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It was the sensation of something warm and moist running over her skin that had woken her up. It felt so nice that she had wanted to stay asleep, but the hardness of the surface underneath her nagged at her until she opened her eyes. Hinata stared up at five male faces, none of which she recognized. She was sore, lying on her back, and surrounded by those she assumed to be the enemy.

Hinata had two options at this point as far as she could tell. Either she faint or she scream. It never occurred to her to struggle, because as a princess, she had never really been in this situation before. Although the oblivion that fainting would supply was very tempting, Hinata decided that screaming would be the best option. So she did.

As the five gentlemen jumped back, Hinata tried to sit up. It was slow going due to all her aches and pains. By the time she was sitting all the way up, there was an angry looking man, with black hair and red eyes with three commas on in them.

"Who the hell do you think you are screaming like that?" he demanded.

Hinata was quite taken aback by this. No one had ever spoken to her in such a tone. It scared her, so she flinched away from the boy a small whimper escaping from her mouth.

"Sasuke-teme, back off, you're scaring her," a hand on the shoulder pulled the angry boy out off Hinata's face, only to be replaced by a blond boy with blue eyes and lines on his cheeks, like whiskers. He grinned hugely at her, "Don't mind him, he's always a little grumpy this early in the morning. I'm Naruto by the way. Who are you?"

"H-hinata," she answered softly, trying to smile for the boy who was so friendly.

Naruto was pushed out of the way by another boy with black hair. He was smiling, but there was something off about his smile. "You are cute. Please allow me to give you a nickname."

This boy was pushed out of the way by two figures, one with red triangles on his face, the other with most of his face covered by sunglasses and his coat. "Don't mind him," the one with the red triangles said, "He's an idiot. I'm Kiba and the quiet guy is Shino." Shino nodded at her from next to Kiba.

They were shoved out of the way and the boy they shoved took their place again, "Don't listen to them. Dog-licker and Bug-sucker are just jealous. I'm Sai by the way. I think I'll call you…"

What ever he was going to way was cut off a chubby guy holding a washcloth. "Sorry about the wakeup," he said, offering her the cloth. "We were just trying to clean you up a little to see how badly you were injured."

"Hey Fat ass! I was talking!" Sai yelled at the boy. The room went quiet and everyone froze. Hinata blinked at the sudden stillness. As if her blinking triggered something, the other four boys dove for cover. Hinata sat on the table completely confused when she felt hands grab her arms and pull her to the other side of the table.

A boy with a dark brown ponytail was crouched next to her. "Sorry about that," he muttered not looking at her, but peeking over the table. "Sai said that taboo word. Whenever Chouji hears it he gets really angry."

"Oh, you mean f…?" Hinata started before her mouth was covered by him.

"Yes. Now don't say it. It's taboo." He released her mouth once he was sure she understood the rule.

There was a large crash from the other side of the table. Followed by shouting that Hinata couldn't make out and more bangs. Eventually there was silence. Hinata joined the pony tailed boy in peaking over the edge of the table. Chouji was standing over the prone figure of Sai. Each was covered with bruises and panting heavily.

"Don't call me that," Chouji spat out, still panting heavily. As if these words signified that the storm had passed, everyone came out of their hiding places.

"How stupid can you get?" the angry boy from earlier asked the prone figure of Sai. Sai didn't respond. All the guys suddenly turned their attention to her, causing Hinata to re-think her earlier options of fainting or screaming.

The attention became to much as the guys surrounded her and started asking her questions. At first she tried to answer them, but there were just so many. Out of self preservation Hinata fainted.

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"That bitch," Temari growled as she stalked about her room. Gaara watched her with his eyes. "Who does she think she is accusing us of any wrongdoings involving the princess?"

Gaara silently agreed with his sister, but he wasn't going to say anything until she calmed down. At this stage in her tantrum she would just bite his head off and cause an international incident. Things were bad enough as they were.

"Who's to say the little snot didn't run away? I'd want to get as far away from the bitch as possible if she were my step mother..." Gaara tuned out his sister's ranting at this point. It was the third time since the end of the meeting with the queen that she had made such a statement.

The meeting had started out well enough, no talk of marriage yet, but it still might have come up. Then the guard who had taken Hinata off the palace grounds came into the room and whispered into the queens ear. Once he left Tayuya gave them a speculative look. Gaara definitely had a bad feeling about the look she was giving them.

"I've just gotten word that the Princess Hinata has gone missing and she was last seen with you," she declared, pointing at Gaara.

"Hinata is missing?" Gaara asked quietly.

"So you admit it?" Tayuya demanded.

"I admit that I met with Hinata today, but she had a previous engagement and left to meet with a guard at the back gate of the wall," Gaara explained.

"Can anyone else collaborate that story?"

"The guard," Gaara stated blandly. Tayuya snorted as though she didn't believe him.

"I'm afraid we will have to postpone further negotiations until this is settled," she said instead. "Feel free to remain in the castle until that time."

Gaara was brought back to the present by the silence. It seemed that while he was remembering the happenings of the meeting, Temari had calmed down.

"I will start my investigation as soon as possible," Gaara stated, "The sooner we find Hinata the sooner we can leave." What Gaara didn't tell his sister was that he was worried about the quiet girl for reasons other then the continuation of negotiations.


	4. Chapter 4

Hinata woke up to see six unfamiliar but not unknown faces hovering over her. Hinata didn't have the energy to faint again, so she blinked at them to show that she was awake and conscience. For a moment she attempted to sit up on her own, but discovered that moving was bothering her head. She must have hit it when she fainted. She decided that she wanted to be on more equal ground with the gentlemen surrounding her, so she stuck her hand up.

They all looked at her hand in confusion. "W-would s-someo-one h-help me up-p?" sh asked quietly, trying to maintain her dignity while flat on her back. Eventually the one with the sunglasses reached out silently and took her hand, hauling her up a little more roughly then she was used to.

"T-thank y-you... S-shino, r-right?" He nodded regally.

"Who are you?" the angry one from earlier asked, glaring at her.

"I-I'm H-hinata. C-could you t-tell m-me wh-where I am?"

There was an uneasy shifting among the men as they glanced at each other, then back at her, then oddly enough over to someone to the left. Hinata turned her head to look int eh direction that everyone else looked. There sat Shikamaru, the one who had saved her from the taboo word. He was watching Hinata closely, looking for something that she couldn't identify.

"We're in the Fire Country." Hinata's eyes widened at that statement. She was in her country still. Somehow she had thought that she had made it farther then she had. What was she going to do if she was found out?

"What were you doing on the side of the road?" Naruto asked, shoving his face into hers. Hinata threw herself backward with an eep. She was not used to people in her personal space. Her mind raced with ways to answer that question.

"W-well I...I...I... and th-there w-was th-this... Y-you s-see..." she trailed off when she realized that she was making things worse. She took a deep breath and thought about her answer. "I w-was r-run-ning f-from s-someo-one. H-he t-told-d m-me t-that if I ev-ver ret-turned th-that h-he w-would-d k-kill m-me." She was staring at her knees, not daring to look at any of them.

"Who?" someone asked, Hinata didn't look up to see who it was.

"I c-an't-t s-say. H-he'll k-kill m-me."

Naruto's face appeared upside down in her line of sight. "He can't get you here. I'll protect you," he told her earnestly. Hinata flushed and shook her head. 'If they know that it was Neji who threatened her, they could easily figure out who she was.'

"We don't need to know who he is," Shikamaru ordered from the couch. "Kiba, get the bath ready for her. Chouji, set up a place for her to crash. Everyone else, get to work."

"And what will you be doing oh fearless leader?" came the sarcastic question.

"Supervising."

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Gaara decided that he would start his investigation by finding the real last person who had been seen with Hinata. After asking a maid who always smiled at him a lot about the guard he had seen. She stopped smiling when he did this, but she was very helpful.

It took a while, but Gaara finally found the perfect opportunity to get the guard by himself. After about a day of observing the guard, Gaara came up with his plan. He set everything up in a utility closet that wasn't being used. When the guard passed the door, Gaara pulled him in. There was a brief struggle, but Gaara eventually managed to subdue him. Gaara pressed himself closer to the gaurds back, making sure to use his body weight to pin him to the wall.

"What did you do with Hinata?" he growled into the gaurds ear.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"You left the palace with her then returned by yourself. What did you do with her?"

"I did nothing."

"Bullshit. You will tell me what happened or I you will make you wish I had never been born."

There was a long pause at this. "Don't you mean 'wish _you_ had never been born?'"

"No," Gaara laughed without any humor. He grabbed the scissors he had placed within easy reach and opened them. Then he placed them near the end of the long ponytail that the guard had. "Until you tell me what I want to know I will be cutting your hair. If you're quick, you can probably save your prescious hair before it's beyond help."

For a while the only sound was that of the scissor blades rubbing together as they closed over the defensless hair. There was a sharp sliding sound as the blades parted again and were repositioned higher up on the ponytail.

"I can't talk to you here," the guard said calmly before the blades could close a second time. "The walls have ears."

"Where can you talk?"

"I have to get back to work or they'll become suspicious. I'll get in touch with you."

"It had better be within the next 12 hours, or else you and all that you hold dear will pay."

"I understand."

"Good," Gaara said before pulling a strand of hair out of the gaurds head. "Just remember that I can always find you, Neji."

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Shikamaru waited for Hinata to take her bath before opening the scroll from their "pen pal" in the castle. He was about to read it when Naruto came stumbling in, and everyone knew that you couldn't trust him with a secret, so he stashed it behind him. Luckily Naruto didn't notice the scroll in the chaos that followed.

Shikamaru didn't know who their informant was in the castle, and their informant didn't know who they were, which caused a problem if there was an emergency, but it guaranteed that if you were caught you couldn't give away your co-workers.

Shikamaru's eyes lazily scanned over the old news, Tayuya is up to something, abusing the power of her position, and a general all around bitch. Nothing but the same old complaints that they couldn't prove. He was about to destroy the document when his eyes caught on the word princess.

_Princess Hinata, daughter of King Hiashi from his first marriage to Queen Rin, was reported missing. Immediately Queen Tayuya pointed out that the delegate from Wind Country, Prince Gaara, was the last person that she was seen with. It is not public knowledge that the the princess is missing, but I'm sending a description of the princess in case any of the stations come across her._

Shikamaru read the description of the with an unsurprised eye. 'It figures,' he thought, casting an eye toward the bathing chamber. 'The first time Naruto brings a girl home and she's out of everybody's league.'

Shikamaru sighed tiredly as he destroyed the scroll. The princess being handed to them on a silver platter was unexpected. He never thought that he would meet royalty at any point in his life. 'Mom's going to freak if she ever finds out.'

"U-um... wh-what sh-should I w-wear?" a quiet voice called out from the depth of the bathing room. Shikamaru shook his head to clear the thought of forbidden naked princess from his mind.

"I'll get you something. Sorry, it won't be that great a fit."

"T-thank you," he heard as he made his way to the bedroom. The house was a one bedroom house, but that was okay because that one bedroom was pretty big. It would have to be because Kiba and Naruto were pigs. They shared a bunk so that the mess was contained at least a little in their corner of the room.

Sai and Sasuke shared another bunk in another corner, mostly because Sai was the only one who could smile through Sasuke's grouchiness. Theirs was a stark corner. The only decoration in that corner was Sasuke's clan symbol (a ping pong paddle) and a picture book that Sai was working on.

Shino had a corner all to himself, mostly because no one else wanted anything to do with his little bug fetish. He treated them like pets, and the weird thing was was that they acted that way. They did what he told them to do and didn't bother anybody else. Even Kiba's dog, who he never bathed, didn't have to deal with fleas thanks to Shino.

The final corner was shared by Shikamaru and Chouji. It was tidy, except for the mountain of dirty clothes at the foot of their bed. Laundry was a chore that Shikamaru didn't like to deal with, so it was done as little as possible. Shikamaru opened the top drawer, which held Chouji's shirts and winced at the sparse choices there. It was beginning to look like the chore that he hated would need to get done soon.

He grabbed one of Chouji's dark t-shirt and a lighter button up shirt. He was pretty sure that if his friend Ino were there she would complain that the colors clashed, but they were the best he could come up with on such short notice.

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Hinata scrubbed most of the grime off of her skin and was now soaking in the tub with the rest of her hair piled up on top. Her hair was clean after several cycles of wash rinse repeat, but due to the branches from the night before, very ragged looking. Once she got up the strength to leave the warm water she would have to trim it.

She was just so comfortable that she wanted to go to sleep. Only the concern that if she might drown stopped her. Dreamily she smiled and lifted a leg out of the water only to set it floating across the surface. She was just about to purr in pleasure when there was a knock on the door.

"Eep?" Hinata questioned as she floundered around in the water. She had completely forgotten that she was a guest in this home. It was quite rude of her to be hogging the tub.

"I brought some clothes for you. They'll be in the changing room when you're ready," someone said. If she had to guess she would say that it was Shikamaru.

She took a deep breath and got out of the tub. She peeked out into the changing room to make sure that no one was there before she dried off and changed into the only clothing in the room that she saw.

The baggy shirt reached about mid thigh, which was a bit more revealing then she was used to. The lighter jacket covered her behind, which she was glad for because she didn't have any clean underwear. Hopefully her real clothes would be clean soon.

Hinata peeked out of the changing room and into the hall. No one was there. Quietly she made her way to where she remembered the living room to be. Still no one was there. She was unsure of what to do with herself, so she stood in the entryway to the living room, looking around with trepidition. The room was scary in its grubbiness. Pots and pans were sitting in the sink, the remains of whatever had been in them sticking to the sides. Corners had collections of dust and cobwebs, and now that her feet were bare, Hinata cringed at the thought of what could be crawling all over the soles of her feet.

After about a half hour of standing around, not knowing what to do, Hinata decided that she couldn't stand the state of the room. She started in the kitchen, because she would be less likely to throw anything important out in there. She began boiling water in the pots with the food stuck in them. One of the kitchen maids in the castle had explained that it would help get the food off the side of the pots. Then she started scrubbing on the the dish ware with warm water and a clean looking rag she found under the sink.

Once all the dishes were set to drain Hinata began looking through the cupboards for anything to clean with. What she found was empty boxes of snacks and moth balls. Plus several empty spaces where she assumed the dishes went. With a huff Hinata rinsed off the rag and started cleaning out the cupboards. Once they were clean she put the dishes away, then heard her stomach growl. Fighting down her guilt at stealing food from the people who had rescued her, she rummaged through the fridge for something to eat. She was in the middle of making herself some scrambled eggs when someone came into the kitchen.

"Man, I'm starving," the one with brown hair and red triangled cheeks complained, "Get me some of whatever you're making, okay Chouji?" He didn't bother to look at Hinata as he left the room. Hinata shrugged and added some more eggs to her mixture.

"What is there to eat? I need sustanunce right away," a cheerful voice asked.

"Don't worry about it, Chouji's cooking something," the triangled cheeks boy stated.

"I hope he makes ramen," a voice said wistfully. Hinata thought that it might be Naruto's voice, but she couldn't be sure. Hinata added two more helpings worth of eggs to the mix. Then she looked around the kitchen for other stuff to add to the meal. Scrambled eggs was fine for two or so people, but it just wouldn't be enough for four.

She hummed slightly to herself as she found some rice and seasonings. She started boiling the water for the rice as sprinkled salt and pepper into the eggs.

"What is Chouji making?" the deep voice of Shino asked.

"Dunno, but I'm sure he'll make enough for everyone."

"Yeah," the cheerful voice agreed, "Even if it's just for him to eat. Wouldn't you agree Sasuke?" There was a hmphing noise that Hinata assumed was Sasuke's answer. Okay, two more helpings. 'Might as well make some for Shikamaru and Chouji as well,' she thought, 'Just to be on the safe side.'

She had just finished cooking everything when she heard the door open.

"Chouji?!" several people asked.

"Yeah?"

"What are you doing out here? Shouldn't you be cooking?" Naruto practically shouted.

"I'm not the cook," Chouji scoffed, "Make your own lunch."

"No, no," someone else interjected. "What Dickless meant was if you're here, then who's in the kitchen cooking?"

Hinata giggled to herself as she set plates up for everyone. "Lunch is ready," she called out. There was a strangled silence as everyone crept their way into the living room. Although it was impolite, Hinata sat down and started eating her lunch, she was too hungry to wait for anyone else.

"What's going on here?" Sasuke asked suspiciously.

"I-I w-was hung-gry, s-so I h-help-ped mys-self t-t s-some ing-gredients a-and m-made l-lunch," Hinata stuttered, looking at the plate of food in front of her.

"What did you make?" Sai asked smiling as he sniffed at the food on one of the plates.

"I-it's j-just-t eg-ggs and-d r-rice."

"We have eggs?" Shikamaru asked as he sat in front of a plate.

Hinata frowned a bit at this. "N-not-t a-any m-more. I-I us-sed th-the l-last of-f th-them to mak-ke l-lunch-ch."

There was a silence as everyone sat down at the table and began to cautiously eat the food. Soon the only sound in the room was that chewing and swallowing. Hinata finished her food first and took her dishes to the sink while everyone finished their food. She didn't notice the silence until she had put her dishes up to drain.

Suddenly all the guys were leaning over the table so that their heads were close together. There was a fierce whispering. Every once and a while one of them would glance up at her, then rejoin the huddle. Hinata stared in concern over their behavior.

"No way!" Naruto shouted, jumping away from the huddle and staring at Hinata. He was pulled roughly back into the huddle and shushed. Hinata had the sinking suspicion that they were talking about her, and didn't know what to do about it. She cleared her throat to get their attention, and was completely ignored. Finally after a minute or so of being ignored she moved into the living room. Quickly she left the living room because there was no place to sit and returned to her seat at the table. The only reaction she received was a glance in her direction, then the huddle scooted further away from her.

Hinata yawned loudly, not in an attempt for attention, but because she was really tired. All that cleaning and her less then stellar evening the night before were piling up against her. She realized that she hadn't covered her mouth about halfway through the yawn. With a strangled eep she covered it and turned bright red. She glanced up at the huddle, only to see that every pair of eyes were on her.

"W-what?"


	5. Chapter 5

Shino had recognized Hinata almost immediately as a lady of the court. His family was rather prestigious so he always spent the season at the palace, being incredibly bored. That was, until he became an official ninja of the Fire Country's royal family. Since then he had been in the field, mostly training for the day that the princess was crowned queen.

He realized that he didn't exactly know who Hinata's family was, because he had never payed attention during his stay at the court, but he recognized the manners she used and the way she held herself, even in an embarrassing situation like this one.

The second he tasted the lunch she had prepared, he knew that she was special. Very few ladies of the court knew how to do such things, let alone do them well. When the huddle had started, he voiced his observations.

"I thought as much," Shikamaru stated. "What do we do about it?"

"Can't we keep her?" Naruto whined. "She cooks good!"

"We can't keep her," Sasuke snapped, "She could be a spy."

"Why would she be spying on us?" Kiba asked, "There's nothing to spy on!"

"He's got a point," Chouji pointed out. "Besides, if she is a spy we can control the amount of information she gets."

"Where would she sleep?" Shino felt the need to ask, although he already had an idea.

"I volunteer to sleep with Miss Hinata," Sai said cheerfully. "It shall not be a chore at all."

"No way!" Naruto shouted loudly. Standing abruptly he stared at Hinata. Shino grabbed him by the shirt and pulled him roughly back into the huddle.

"Well, we can guarantee that her virtue would be safe with you, Dickless," Sai said cheerfully.

"Stop calling me that," Naruto hissed.

"Why doesn't she just take the empty bunk?" Sasuke asked grumpily. Everyone seemed to glance at Shino.

"I would have to clear the bunk," Shino said slowly. Neither denying or approving the move.

"Make it happen," Shikamaru ordered. The huddle broke up and everyone turned back to Hinata. She was in the middle of a large yawn.

"W-what?" she asked quietly, once her attention had returned to them.

"How would you like to stay with us?" Shikamaru asked her.

"O-oh. I-I c-couldn't-t imp-pose..." she said quietly. "I m-must-t b-be on-n m-my w-way."

"Where?" Shikamaru asked abruptly.

"I-I d-don't r-really kn-know yet-t. I j-just kn-know th-that I have to go f-far aw-way..."

"How?"

"Wh-what?"

"How are you going to get there? You don't have money. You don't have a destination. How will you get from point A, here, to point B?"

"I-I d-don't-t kn-know..." she sounded close to tears.

"How about this," Shikamaru offered sympathetically. "You stay with us for a little while. Get rested up, maybe even some clothes and stuff. Then when you're ready, you'll have money and a plan."

"H-how w-will I g-get-t m-mon-ney?"

"You work for us."

"W-what?" she sounded a little panicked at this point.

"We need someone to keep house and keep us fed. You obviously can do that," Shikamaru gestured toward the newly cleaned kitchen. "So, we pay for your services, you get a place to rest and time to get a plan together. What more could you ask for?"

Hinata was quiet for a while. Shino could see her mind working on the question. The deal sounded too good to be true. 'Why is Shikamaru so eager to have her stay with us?' Shino asked himself.

"Th-that s-sounds lik-ke a g-good d-deal," she stated hesitantly. "W-when w-would th-this s-start?"

"How about right now?" Naruto blurted out. Everyone else groaned at his tone. Hinata started nodding in agreement, but was interrupted by another large yawn.

She blushed prettily and asked sheepishly, "M-might-t I t-take a n-nap-p b-bef-fore I s-start-t d-dinner?"

"You will start tomorrow," Shino said kindly, although it was technically Shikamaru's decision to make.

"Chouji and I will take you into town for some things after your nap," Shikamaru stated. "Shino will show you to your bed."

Shino stood and went to Hinata's side. Using court manners that were a little out of practice he bowed and offered her his arm. She nodded and smiled before accepting it.

'Leave the bed,' Shino ordered his insects as he lead the way to the bedroom. He heard grumbling from some of the insects, who had been hatched recently, so didn't know just how spoiled they were. The older ones scolded the younger ones and prepared them for their new arrangements, somewhere in the attic.

"No one uses this bed," Shino stated as he gestured towards the bunk. Hinata gratefully climbed into the bottom bunk, which was Shino's, and instantly fell asleep. Shino shrugged and decided that he could take the top bunk. It was probably impolite to expect a lady to climb a bunk bed anyway.

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Chouji watched Shikamaru as Shino lead Hinata out of the room. He knew that there was something besides the fact that Hinata could cook and clean that made Shikamaru want to keep her. He doubted that it was lust, because Shikamaru had a thing for blonds, but he couldn't think of what it was.

'Shikamaru will tell me when I need to know,' he thought to himself. Completely trusting that his best friend knew what he was doing.

"Yo, Naruto," Shikamaru called out, dragging Naruto's eyes away from the retreating girl. "You forgot the headlight fluid this morning. Go get it."

"Why me?" Naruto pouted.

"Because it was your responsibility. Just because you bring a girl home doesn't mean that you can shirk your duties," Shikamaru said, deadpan. Chouji snickered a little, because Shikamaru sounded just like his mother.

"Aw man," Naruto complained as he trudged out the door.

"She is asleep," Shino announced as he entered the room. Shikamaru shushed everyone and waited for the front door to close, indicating that Naruto was out of hearing range.

"Alright," Shikamaru stated. "You are probably wondering what's going on."

"You were practically begging Hinata to stay," Kiba scoffed. "I know she can cook and all, but we're not that desperate for a maid are we?"

"Not everyone enjoys rolling around in their own filth like a dog," Sai pointed out cheerfully.

"What did you say?" Kiba demanded, looking as though he were going to lunge across the table.

"I'm just pointing out that you are pretty comfortable in a mess."

"You can save the fighting for later," Shino interrupted. "Shikamaru has something important to tell us about Hinata."

Everyone glanced at Shikamaru. "Thank you for that Shino," he said nodding. "Our pen pal at the castle wrote to us. It seems that the princess had disappeared. The prime suspect is the delegate from Sand Country. She has black hair, white eyes, and her name is Hinata. Does that sound like anyone we know?"

There was a silence around the table as his words sunk in. It was practically deafening how silent the room was.

"So that's why you sent Dickless on that ridiculous errand," Sai said happily, breaking the spell that was on everyone's mind.

"Yeah," Sasuke laughed. "Everybody knows that he can't keep a secret."

"That's correct," Shikamaru nodded. "Now, I think that our duty is clear. We protect the princess until we can make sure that the castle is secure for her. Until then, we don't let her know that we know who she is. Agreed?"

"Agreed," everyone answered as one.

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Neji was not afraid of the delegate from the Wind Country. He thought that the threat used against him had been utterly ridiculous. 'To think, the threat of having shorter hair would effect me,' he thought grandly as he clutched his locks protectively.

No, he had told the delegate that he would talk to him later, because if everything went as planned, then he would. Tayuya's orders were treasonous, but also the first real opportunity to remove her from power. She had messed up when all she had asked for as proof was the princess's heart. The dear the hunters had caught for the evening's feast had the perfect sized heart.

Hopefully he would receive word from one of Lee's many "pen pals," from outside of the castle. Lee was his partner, as well as Ten Ten. Together they gave and received information from the Royal Family's ninja warriors. Warriors only loyal to the royal family of the Fire Nation, not "the queen."

He had given Lee the official story for the report because he was worried that someone may be monitoring the correspondences. He would tell Lee and Ten Ten the true story later in the evening, where they would also discuss what to do about the Wind Country's delegate

The 12 hour deadline weighed heavily on his mind. That was barely enough time to organize two clandestine meetings and decide just how much information needed to be exchanged. 'Best get started now,' he thought as he caught Ten Ten's eye and gave her the signal, a lifted left eyebrow and a nod. He trusted that she would alert Lee.

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Several hours later, Hinata was still asleep. While waiting for her to wake up Shikamaru stared at the empty scroll, unsure of what information he should give to his "pen pal." He had some concerns about the person that had threatened the princess. They had to be in the castle somewhere and he didn't want to give Hinata's location away to them.

He glanced over at Chouji, who shrugged and made his way over. Chouji was always good for dealing with writers block.

"Why don't you just tell them that we spotted someone with black hair making their way towards the boarder, but didn't get a good look at them?" Chouji suggested, before returning to his spot on the couch.

Shikamaru thought about this for a while. It was a good lie. It was vague enough to be true, black hair was pretty common, but not to raise any questions. He would probably add something about keeping an eye out for the princess, which would be completely true, just not the way the "pen pal" would think.

"Why not just tell them the truth?" Kiba asked loudly.

"Because the source of danger to Hinata came from the palace," Shikamaru explained. "We can't let them know where she is until we can be sure that it's safe."

"But there could be a thousand people pretending to be Hinata when all this is over. How will anybody know that she's the princess?"

"We'll worry about that when it happens. If all else fails we can just have her take The Test," Shikamaru shrugged as he began to write his letter. He had to do his best to make this letter seem the same as any other letter. 'First add some information about what's happening in our territory, then put the lie in, the finish with a joke about Naruto,' he thought as he composed the note.

_"All is quiet in our territory. The tax collectors haven't been by in a while, so the people have had a chance to earn money for the winter. Everyone seems content at the moment, but there have been rumors of an underground movement who want to pull some Robin Hood shit. _

_Bashful reported that he spotted several women with black hair making their way to the boarder, but that he didn't get a good look at any of them. I have heard similar reports from Happy, Sneezy, Grumpy, and Doc as well. Dopey has not returned from his mission to retrieve head light fluid, so he has been unable to report anything. We will continue to keep an eye out for the princess._

_Sincerely,_

_ Sleepy"_

Shikamaru looked over the letter before sealing it. He motioned for Chouji to bring him their hawk, who would fly the letter to an unknown location. From there the message would be sent on to the castle. This insured that the people in the castle couldn't find their territory.

Shikamaru often wondered what had drawn him to the life of a ninja. To some extent he thought that it might be fun, but he also knew that he was a terrible coward. He had a plan for his life. Have a career, get married, two kids (one boy, one girl), then retire when his kids were independent, and die of old age (after his wife so she wouldn't have to live without him). It had all seemed so easy when he was 12 and had come up with the idea for the first time. It had become difficult when he had finished step one. He was a ninja now, that was his carrier. All he had to do was find a girl. He didn't ask for much. Someone smart, but not too smart. Neither beautiful nor plain... He just wanted a normal girl, who was nothing like his mother. Unfortunately those kind of girls didn't exist.

Shikamaru shrugged the morose thoughts away as he turned to the more practical aspects of hiding a princess in plain sight. Their house was a well known bachelor pad among the villagers, the knowledge that there was an unchaperoned female living amongst them would do a lot of harm to Hinata's reputation. 'Not to mention her health if Sasuke's fan girls found out where she was living,' he thought, brows wrinkling.

He heard timid foot steps come from the bedroom. It was a sound that he wasn't used to. None of the inhabitants in the house were timid by nature, although some were quiet. He really wasn't sure what the difference was between Hinata's footsteps and those of his fellow ninja, just that they were.

"Ah, you're awake," he said without turning towards the girl. She eeped softly. "Are you ready to go?"


	6. Chapter 6

Hinata woke up to the feeling of falling. Her eyes snapped open as she hit the ground with a less then ladylike grunt. Slowly she got to her feet in order to sit on the bunk. While the bed had been incredibly comfortable, the mattress wasn't as wide as the one she had at the palace.

Hinata sighed as she rubbed her smarting back, from where she fell. 'I guess I'll just have to get used to not being a princess,' she thought sadly. Tomorrow would be the first day of work, work. While it was true, she did enjoy cooking and cleaning, she had never had to rely on those skills in order to live, like some of the servants in the palace. She was worried that she wouldn't be able to handle the responsibilities.

'What if they turn me out?' she asked herself in a panic. She could just imagine what would happen to her, all on her own. No money, no food, no where to go. She had had the vague notion of going to the neighboring kingdom and asking for sanctuary, but now that she thought of it, there would really be no reason for them to help her. If her appearance earlier was any indication, no one would ever believe she was a princess. With nothing to offer as proof she would probably be forcibly removed, or even imprisoned for impersonating royalty.

Her mind kept spiraling between thoughts of the other royal courts reaction to a "fake" princess and the horror of being penniless and helpless if her new job didn't work out. Tears were beginning to form in her eyes, when she noticed a pair of eyes, looking at her from an odd angle. In front of her stood the blond boy, bent at the waist, with his head angled so that he could see her face clearly.

"You okay?" he asked, moving his face closer to hers. Hinata squeaked helplessly and jumped a little, hitting her head on the bed she had just slept in. "Sorry. Didn't mean to startle you." he said, moving forward and gently cupping her head, to look at her injury.

Hinata's face heated up at the contact. She hadn't been touched since shortly after her father's funeral, except when absolutely necessary. Her heart started to speed up in excitement as she soaked up the warmth of his touch. She sighed softly and nearly forgot about the pain in her back.

"So... when you're ready, Shikamaru is waiting," he said awkwardly. Hinata squeaked in shame, because she had made him feel uncomfortable... 'What am I to do? Already I'm causing trouble in the house!' If it wasn't for the fact that someone was waiting for her and she didn't want to become a burden in her new, if temporary, home, Hinata would have allowed herself to spiral into a pit of self pity.

Instead she nodded her head and stood up to follow Naruto into the living room, where as promised, Shikamaru sat. Sat was rather too tame a word for what the boy was doing. True, his body was still barely in the category of sitting, but for the most part he was spread out to the point where lounging would probably be a better term for his actions.

"Look who I found!" Naruto called out cheerfully. "Sleeping Beauty was awake and ready to go."

Hinata turned bright red at his comment. No one had called her beautiful in a very long time.

"Good to see you awake Hinata. There's something that we need to talk about before we head out," Shikamaru said, sitting up strait and looking serious. "How are we going to explain you?"

"Wh-what do you mean?" Hinata stuttered. Did they want her to leave, before she even started her job?

"You are a loan female living with seven males," Shikamaru explained. "Even though you will be our house keeper, people will assume the worse."

"Oh," Hinata siad bleakly. She had kind of understood his concerns. She herself had never paid too much attention to rumors, but she understood that a person's could be ruined basically by what others thought of them. If it was found out that she was living, unchaperoned, with seven males, it could be disasterous for them. "I wouldn't want any of your reputations to be tarnished by my presence," she said sincerely. 'They're going to so much trouble for me, I don't want it to be worse than it has to be.'

The gentlemen around her seemed so touched by her concern that they all decided to fall forward in relief. It took them a while to stifle their tears of gratitude, but finally they were composed.

"Thank you for your concerns," Shikamaru said, emotion evident in his voice. "As such, I thought that it would be best if we said that you were related to one of us. Shino would probably be best, because the least is known about him..."

Hinata soon found herself walking down a road. Vaguely she realized that a little under 24 hours ago she had been a princess, with nothing to worry about except whether or not the cook would teach her how to make that cake that she loved so much. A little over 10 hours ago she had been running for her life, in the dark, the only thing she had to worry about was death. Now both situations seemed as though they were nothing but a dream. The only thing that she had to prove that either situation had happened was her memory, and who would be interested in the story of a quiet person like her. Even in the palace people had taken no notice of her. When she did catch their notice, it was usually after hours of dilliberation and they the person almost always had to ask her to repeat herself.

Of course, things had started changing lately... Gaara had heard her. In the garden. And none of her new friends had seemed to find her too annoying. Maybe it was because they didn't know that she was a princess. Everyone she had ever met, before Gaara, had already known what she was, as though it had been tattooed to her forehead.

Chouji's deep voice interupted her thoughts, "This is the house of the town's mad scientist. He's an ameture inventor, with a daughter about our age. Right now she's living in the palace, but that's only for another couple of months."

Hinata was a little worried about that. If she was still here in a couple of months, that girl could blow her cover. She firmed her resolve to work hard, so she could be gone by the time the girl got back. 'I wonder who she is...' Hinata thought. There were so many people at the palace and the faces were always changing, that if she were to ask, the information would probably mean nothing to her. When she thought about the palace and the people in it, the only ones who stood out were, Tayuya, Chef, and a few of the guards. Of the guards it was just Neji and his friends Lee and Ten Ten.

'I wonder who Gaara was,' Hinata thought. He certainly was a new face, but his clothes were a little better then those of the servants. Also, he didn't have the on edge feel that most of the guards have, especially when they knew that she was around...

"We're going to walk to the farthest shop, then back. You should pay attention so that you'll know your way around the place," Shikamaru stated blandly. Hinata nodded determinedly, intent on learning everything quickly.

The furthest shop that they needed in the village was a clothing shop. Inside was a wide variety of clothing, ranging from casual to formal. So far nothing in the shop could compare to the splendor of some of the clothing Hinata had seen at the palace during a ball, but many of the clothes were in the same style that she had seen the servants wear at the palace.

"Pick out what you're going to need," Shikamaru said. "We'll be outside when you're ready."

Hinata could feel herslef begin to panic a little. This was the first time she had ever gone shopping, let alone been given a choice about what to wear. It was almost too much for her. Her eyes swirled around the store, looking for anything or anyone who could help her.

As if it were a sign from God, a hand gently touched her shoulder from behind and a calm soothing voice asked her the blessed question, "Can I help you?"

Hinata whirled around so quickly that the hem of her borrowed outfit rose dangerously high on her legs. She smiled desperately at the owner of the voice, a girl about her own age, with long pale blond hair and vivid blue eyes. "Please?" Hinata asked.

The girl's eyes widened a bit, then she relaxed into a smile. "How can I help?"

"I-I-I..." Hinata started, trying to catch her breath and explain like a rational person.

"Isn't that Chouji's shirt?" the girl snapped. Glaring at Hinata.

"I-I-I..." Hinata said quickly as way of explination. This did nothing to ease the ire of the girl.

"Where is he?" she asked darkly, twisting her head this way and that, as though by dislocating her neck she could summon the poor boy.

"Ou-ou-outs-side," Hinata said meekly. The girl spun around quickly and stalked outside. Hinata followed, trying to explain. "Y-yo-you d-don't und-derst-tand!"

"What don't I understand?" the girl practically shouted.

"I d-don't h-hav-ve anyth-thing el-else t-to wear!" Hinata said earnestly, trying to calm the other girl down enough to help her get new clothes.

Her plan backfired. "CHOUJI!" she shouted, causing both Chouji and Shikamaru to poke their heads around a corner. Their eyes widened and they attempted to duck back into safety, but it was too late. The girl saw them and she charged. Hinata followed behind feeling helpless.

"Why is she running around in your clothes?" she demanded when she reached the two boys.

"Are you jealous?" Shikamaru asked lazily.

The girl glared at him, but Hinata noticed that her cheeks turned an attractive color of pink. "I want to know why there is a girl running around inadequately dressed in the same home that my Sasuke lives in!" she answered quickly, not looking at either boy.

"She needs new clothes," Chouji said easily. "The ones she was wearing were wrecked. Mine were the only ones that were clean and could possibly fit her."

"Who is she?" she asked suspiciously. She didn't sound as angry as she did the last time she spoke.

"Shino's cousin," Shikamaru answered. "Her name's Hinata."

"Why is she with you guys?" sounding less angry.

"She's our new housekeeper," Shikamaru shrugged.

"WHAT?" the girl screeched. "I've volunteered to be your housekeeper, and now you're just letting this little tart do it for you?"

"Hinata's not a tart," Shikamaru said tiredly. "She needs some help and we can help her. Besides you only volunteered so you could stalk Sasuke."

"It's called _investigating,_ thank you very much!" the girl shouted. "Besides, how do you know that she isn't after Sasuke for herself?"

"Wh-which o-one's S-sasuke?" Hinata asked confused. How did a trip to buy some clothes turn into this? Hinata glanced around nervously and noticed that a crowd was beginning to form around them.

The blond girl turned around to stare at her, her mouth hanging slightly open. "Are you serious?"

Hinata nodded slowly, truly concerned about the crowd that was forming. What if someone recognized her?

The girl watched her carefully as she stalked around Hinata, looking for something... "Hmmm..." she said. Hinata remained silent, not wanting to draw anymore attention then necessary. "Alright, let's get you some clothes," the girl said, taking Hinata's hand and dragging her back to the store.

Hinata was more confused then she had ever been in her entire life. First there was an angel, who turned into a demon, who turned into... Hinata was unsure at this point. The girl who was now dragging her back into the shop seemed happy, but Hinata couldn't really tell. She had never been good at reading people. Besides, within seconds of seeing Hinata she had flown into a rage over one of her new employers...

'Which one was Sasuke?' Hinata asked herself. The time between waking up for the first time and taking her nap was still a little blurry. She remembered meeting a lot of people all at once... then fighting... then cooking... and finally sleep. At the moment the only people who were concrete in her mind were Shikamaru, the sleepy one, Chouji, the... robust one, and Naruto, the blond one. The rest were the grumpy one, the happy one, the bashful one, and the sneezing one. She was sure that she would learn their names quickly. 'Maybe this girl can help...'

"So, what do you need?" the girl asked, breaking Hinata from her thoughts.

"I-I-I," Hinata started. This time the girl seemed to understand and gave her the time to collect herself. "I n-need ev-verth-thing," Hinata admitted eventually.

"When you say everything, do you mean everything, everything?" the girl asked, giving her a significant look. Hinata looked confused for a moment, hadn't she just said that? Then comprehension took place and she blushed before nodding. "Then it's a good thing that you came here. Because we have everything. I'm Ino by the way."

"N-nice to m-meet you," Hinata said, following Ino as she lead to a selection of underclothes.

"So, what's your size?"

Hinata blinked. She had never bought clothes before. She had barely even dressed herself before Tayuya became queen... Clothes were something that other people knew about and took care of for her. True, she had seen the maids do laundry before, but she didn't know anything about her personal clothes. "S-size?"

Ino gave her a look, before grabbing some underwear and a bra. She thrust the items into Hinata's arms and took her to a curtained area. "Try these on in here. If they're too loose or too tight let me know and I'll get some new ones."

Once underclothes had been taken care of, then came dresses, shirts, trousers, socks, and shoes. As they picked up and discarded items, Ino talked about herself.

"My hair used to be much longer. I used to live up in a really high tower and my hair was used as a rope. Let me tell you, having 50m of hair is not easy. Brushing it is practically impossible, let alone styling it. And the stress of having someone climbing up your hair is not good for your skin," Ino chattered away. "Sure, it was nice in the tower, but it was really lonely. The only person I had to talk with was Mother. She basically told me all the time that I was pretty and that's why I was in the tower. Does that make sense to you? Being punished because you're pretty?"

"My step mother always says that beauty is power," Hinata volunteered. It was nice talking to Ino. She talked a lot, but she also listened to what people had to say.

"Maybe. People usually just tell me that she was jealous... I'd never thought of it like that. How should I use my new found power to get Sasuke?" she asked, winking at Hinata before striking a pose.

"A-are y-you s-sure that you want-t S-sasuke?" Hinata teased. "Y-you s-seem m-more jealous ab-bout me w-wearing Ch-chouji's clothes th-then about Sasuke."

Ino blushed a little before turning away. "Chouji was the first person I ever talked with, besides Mother that is. He didn't tell me that I was pretty, he told me that I looked lonely. He's the one who arranged for me to be rescued. Even though it was Sasuke who actually did the rescuing."

"Did Chouji climb up your hair?" Hinata asked, trying to see how the large boy could do something like that.

"No." Ino said. "He's thought he would be too big for that. He ended up climbing a tree near the tower. He could see me, he said, even though I didn't get to see him until Sasuke carried me down."

"Oh," Hinata said, unsure of what else to say. There was an awkward pause, then Ino smiled brightly.

"Well, I think we managed to get everything for you. Let's change you into one of the outfits, before we call in Sleepy to get everything payed for."

"S-sleepy?" Hinata asked.

"That's what they call Shikamaru. I guess it's because he's really lazy or something."


	7. Chapter 7

After changing into one her new outfits, they made their way to the dry goods store. There Hinata would be able to buy flour, salt, rice, sugar, tea, coffee, and other such items. Shikamaru watched as Hinata's eyes and smile grew wider and wider. She hadn't had this reaction at the clothes store, but show the girl a barrel of flour and her face lit up like it was Christmas.

"It's almost like she's not a real girl," he whispered to Chouji. Chouji lifted an eyebrow at this, but didn't comment.

Hinata came racing back to them, with a concerned look on her face. Shikamaru was worried that she might have heard him. If so, she was probably going to start crying, which was completely unfair in Shikamaru's mind.

"A-ano, h-how m-much sh-should I g-get?" she asked earnestly.

Shikamaru had no idea how to answer this question. He had never bought the food before. As leader, it was his job to delegate, so he made sure that someone else always had this chore. He learned his lesson after delegating the task to Naruto. They ate nothing but ramen for a month.

"One barrel each of flour and rice, two sacks each of sugar and salt, five tins of coffee, six of tea, and whatever else you feel we need from here. That usually lasts us about two weeks," Chouji answered. "We have a garden, so fruit and vegetables are taken care of. Do you know anything about canning? Never mind, that can wait. After this we'll hit the herb shop, where they also sell cleaning stuff. Eggs,milk, and meat are delivered once a week."

"Wh-why not-t hav-ve ev-veryth-thing d-deliv-vered?"

"This store and the herb store don't deliver. Besides, it gives me an excuse to leave the house without being hounded by the guys about having a date."

"Y-you hav-ve a g-girlfriend?" Hinata asked, trying to imagine what girl Chouji would go for. All she could picture was Ino, with her far away smile.

"No, but they assume that the only reason to leave the house is to try and get some," Shikamaru scoffed, answering for Chouji.

"T-try and g-get s-some wh-what?" Hinata asked innocently.

"Uh..." Shikamaru answered intelligently. 'She's a princess. Of course she would never know that kind of thing.' He looked to Chouji for help, but Chouji was already out the door.

"I'm going to get a cart to carry everything home," Chouji called out. "Why don't you hurry up and pick out what you'll need." Shikamaru glared at his ex-best friend, before turning fearfully back to Hinata.

"O-okay," Hinata said smiling, seemingly having forgotten the previous conversation. Shikamaru sighed in relief. That was one conversation that he was glad that he would not have to deal with. Hinata moved through the store efficiently, but she still took time to admire the goods in the store. She carefully chose the flour that she wanted, getting both standard flour and bread flour, something that Shikamaru thought was over kill. She brought mostly brown rice, then a small bit of white rice. Shikamaru noticed that even though she was buying more items then were strictly necessary, she was sticking to the measurements that Chouji had given her.

'Is she trying to be some kind of gourmet chef?' Shikamaru wondered, slightly irritated that his food was going to be messed with. Shikamaru liked plain simple food, he didn't want something that could out class him to be on his dinner plate. However he decided to keep his mouth shut, in case he was told that he could help cook if he wasn't happy. Which is a tactic he was familiar with.

Hinata was lining up her purchases at the counter by the time Chouji returned. She smiled brightly at the young cashier, who gave her a discount. They had been loyal customers at this store for over a year, and this was the first time that they had been offered a discount. It was also the first time that the cashier had volunteered to help carry the goods home.

Hinata gave Shikamaru a questioning glance, which the cashier missed. Shikamaru shook his head. Hinata turned back to the cashier and smiled gratefully, "N-no th-thank you. B-but th-thank you f-for of-fering." Apparently the cashier was even more in love, because he blushed and nodded his understanding.

Reluctantly Shikamaru came into view of the cashier. He didn't want the glare that he knew that boy would shoot at him. He also didn't want to lose the offer of free manual labor in the future. Under the hard glare of the cashier he paid for Hinata's purchases and helped lug them out to where Chouji was waiting with a wooden cart balanced on two wheels.

After packing the days purchases, the three of them made their way to the herb shop. Chouji was giving a list of cleaning supplies that they needed. Shikamaru wondered how he knew that stuff. Shikamaru never found out about it until he looked for a paper towel only to find that the role was empty.

Hinata seemed to be taking everything he said very seriously. She listened intently and nodded to show that she was listening. Shikamaru was amazed that she even knew what Chouji was talking about, let alone that she could possibly do them.

'I hope we don't end up being tried for treason because we made the princess scrub the toilet,' Shikamaru thought, knowing that there really was no choice. She would be suspicious if we just let her stay for free.

The herb store was well lit and cheerful. Dried herbs were hung from the rafters artfully and things were displayed in cheerful little buckets. Shikamaru made eye contact with the store clerk, which he decided might have been a mistake.

Her green eyes latched onto his hungrily before she stalked her way over to the group. She flipped her pink hair artfully and batted her lashes. "Hey Shikamaru. Did you bring Sasuke?" she asked sweetly.

"He stayed home," Shikamaru answered. For a second her smiled dimmed before she went into sales mode.

"So what can I get you?"

Shikamaru drew a blank, so he turned to Hinata, who turned a questioning look at Chouji. "Just the usual, Sakura" Chouji said smiling, "And whatever else Hinata here needs."

Sakura's eyes zeroed in on Hinata. Shikamaru was glad that they had changed her clothes. He didn't want another scene because the girl was inadequately dressed. Hinata was currently wearing a modest black sweater over violet capris, with some off white tennis shoes on her feet. Suddenly Sakura's smile took on a predatory gleam.

"You boys leave this to me," she said, before swooping down on Hinata and ushering her away. Hinata gave a nervous look over her shoulder at the boys, but followed Sakura as she began showing Hinata what she would need to buy.

Hinata felt like she had been through this before. With Ino, it had been in your face and over with within seconds, but Sakura was more subtle than that. She didn't make demands and accusations, instead she prodded at Hinata's story, making her a little nervous. 'If she finds out who I am, I'll be in a lot of trouble.'

"So, Hinata, how long have you known those guys?" Sakura asked as she chose items that she assured Hinata were the regular.

"N-not v-very lo-ong," Hinata stuttered. "I-I j-just m-et most of th-them t-tod-day."

"Only most?" Sakura asked suspiciously.

"I-I'm Sh-Shino's c-cous-sin," Hinata explained, remembering the story that Shikamaru came up with.

"I didn't know that Shino had a cousin," Sakura smiled. "What was he like as a kid?"

Hinata's mind drew a blank. She was pretty sure that Shino was the one with the sunglasses. He seemed pretty polite, but she couldn't say that. No one would believe they were cousins if she gave such a weak answer...

"H-he w-was-s p-pret-ty qu-quiet," she decided, "b-but f-fun-ny," she finished. If Shino turned out to be a loud mouth, then it might not be so shocking to the pink haired girl.

"Shino has a sense of humor?" the girl asked incredulously. Maybe Hinata made a mistake. "But he always seems so serious and uptight." Hinata just shrugged, hoping the girl would drop the subject. Hinata had always hated lying, so the fact that today she had lied more then her entire life was a little draining.

She decided that the best way to minimize the lying would be to get out of town and back to the house as quickly as possible.

"I-I d-don't-t m-mean-n to rush-sh you," she stuttered out politely, "B-but I-I hav-ve t-to g-get-t h-hom-me s-soon-n a-and..."

"Oh, so it's home now?" Sakura asked, in a way that should have scared Hinata, but she was too tired, and there was a heavenly scent wafting through the shop. She hoped that it was a soap, because even though the soap she used at the house was alright, it smelled a little too masculine in her opinion.

Hinata nodded slowly, "J-just-t f-for a lit-tle w-while."

"Like long enough to get married and start a family?"

"N-no," Hinata answered. "J-just l-lon-ng en-nough t-to ear-rn s-some m-mon-ney," Hinata answered. "Th-that's why I n-need to g-get hom-me s-soon. T-to st-start d-dinner."

"Oi, Hinata," Shikamaru said, appearing between the two girls. Hinata and Sakura jumped in surprise. "You don't start work until tomorrow. We'll take care of dinner once we're done here."

"B-but-t I w-wanted to st-start r-right aw-way," Hinata tried to argue.

"You need your rest. You'll need all the energy have to clean our toxic waste dump of a house."

"B-but..."

"Enough. Sakura can you get that stuff Chouji asked for?" Shikamaru asked, putting an end to whatever protests Hinata had. Sakura looked like she was going to argue, but must have decided not to, because she turned and deliberately moved to the back of the store.

"Th-thank you," Hinata whispered breathily. Shikamaru wasn't sure if she was talking to Sakura, for doing her job and getting the stuff, or him, for rescuing her from Sakura. Sakura may have started out more subtle than Ino, but Shikamaru knew that she was just as rabidly obsessed with Sasuke as her blond counterpart.

"Which one is Sasuke and why is every convinced that I want him?" Hinata asked, turning large eyes to Shikamaru.

Shikamaru was taken aback by her question. He had never been asked that. "He's the one who yelled at you for screaming," Shikamaru shrugged, then sneered. "Don't you find him "dreamy?""

Hinata's brows furrowed as she took his question seriously. "I s-suppose if he weren't y-yelling at me he c-could be h-handsome..."

Shikamaru snorted at her answer. "Don't let Sakura hear you say that. She really likes Grumpy. She'd tear her heart out and feed it to him if she thought that would impress him."

"I-I s-suppose I c-can understand th-that f-feeling," Hinata said faintly. Pink dusting her cheeks most becomingly.

"Oh?" Shikamaru drawled out, smirking at the blushing girl, "Is there someone in particular you're thinking of?"

Hinata's face went from pink to scarlet. It wasn't until she started squeaking some explanation about someone, that Shikamaru remembered that he had just teased the royal princess of the Fire Country.

Shit! He could be tried for treason! But then again they were asking her to cook and clean for them. So, he'd probably be tried for treason anyway... Eh.

"So there is," Shikamaru smiled brightly. "What's his name?"

"I-I d-don't r-real-ly kn-now him th-that w-well," Hinata admitted, blushing softly. "W-we j-just met-t b-before I h-had t-to leav-ve."

Shikamaru nodded encouragingly. The more hints she gave them about her life in the castle, the better able they would be to determine when it was safe to return her. It sounded like this guy was not a danger, but you never know.

"H-he s-said th-that his-s n-name w-was G-gaara," she continued, with a far off look in her eyes.

'Gaara?' Shikamaru thought, the name nagging at the back of his mind.

"I got everything Chouji asked for," Sakura announced from just within earshot. The smile she sent towards them was much warmer than it had been after finding out that Sasuke wasn't with them. "Will there be anything else?"

"A-ano, wh-what is th-that sm-mell?" Hinata asked, then she must have realized how her question sounded, because she immediately added, "It-t sm-mells r-really g-good."

"You'll have to be a little more specific," Sakura laughed, "There are a lot of smells and most of them are good."

"I-t's c-coming f-from ov-ver th-there," Hinata pointed in a random direction and hoping that it was correct.

"Ah, then what you're smelling are probably the body soaps and shampoos," Sakura explained. "They're made from local ingredients and were made here at the shop. They not only smell good, but they can boost energy and help wounds heal faster. The guys already use the energy boosting one, but you probably find it a little masculine..."

Sakura was all smiles as she led the quiet princess to the display of soaps. Vaguely Hinata wondered about the changed in attitude, but didn't feel comfortable asking about it.

As if sensing her question Sakura volunteered, "Sorry about the third degree before. I'm just a little territorial when it comes to my man. If I had known that you weren't on the market I wouldn't have been so rude."

"O-oh," Hinata said, unsure of what was going on. All she wanted to do was get some soap for herself and go back to rest. Today was turning out to be more tiring than she expected. Of course she hadn't really been expecting anything that had happened in the last twenty-four hours or so either.

After Sakura's apology Hinata's shopping trip became much more comfortable. She ended up purchasing a wonderful smelling soap and shampoo set of green tea and cucumbers, a hair brush, a tooth brush, some deodorant, and a scentless lotion that was supposed to moisturize without clogging pores. Hinata also received directions that if she found that she needed anything else, or even just an escape from the boys that she was to contact Sakura immediately. Earlier Ino had given her similar instructions.

By the time they left the store Hinata was flushed from all the attention that she had received today. She hadn't been paid that much mind since her father was still alive. It felt rather nice, if a little overwhelming and embarrassing.

"So, what do you want for dinner?" Chouji asked once outside of the store grounds. Hinata shrugged. Honestly she was a little too overwhelmed at the moment to think of anything except crawling into bed and sleeping for the next year or so.

"Anything you don't like?" Shikamaru asked. Hinata thought about it for a while, then shook her head. She didn't want to be a bother.

"Alright. Ramen it is," Chouji announced.

"At least Naruto will be happy," Shikamaru replied, shaking his head slowly and smiling.

Hinata's face must have shown her confusion because Chouji leaned in and whispered conspiratorially, "Naruto is the hyperactive blonde one and ramen is his favorite food."

"Ah," Hinata said, "Just one more question then. What's ramen?"


	8. Chapter 8

Neji, Ten Ten, Lee, and Gaara were all sitting at a table in the guard's quarters. Nobody would question what Garage was doing there, because for the moment he was the prime suspect in the disappearance of the princess. He wasn't allowed off the castle grounds until his name was cleared and he was to be accompanied by, coincidentally, Neji, Ten Ten, and/or Lee at all times.

Now however, Ten Ten did something with some string, a piece of paper, and her fork that made it so that no one was interested in the quartet sitting at the table. Gaara hoped that when this was all over she might teach him that trick. It would definitely come in handy for clandestine meetings out in the open. Meetings that Gaara, who always had the public eye on him, was fairly used to conducting.

Gaara refused to be the first person to talk. They were here because he demanded it. They would do what he wanted eventually, which was tell him what was going on. So, instead of talking, Gaara made eye contact with Neji, the ringleader. Now it was just a waiting game...

Ten Ten's eyes flashed back and forth between the two. The testosterone was so think in the air that it was practically choking her. She was really loosing her patients with this power battle they were having. She glanced over at Lee, who was staring at the two with large sparkly eyes.

'Any second now he's going to try and hug them,' she thought cynically, 'Then he's going to spout some nonsense about the "flame's of youth." Now, the question is do I want to stop that? It might be amusing.'

Ten Ten decided that the potential amusement of that scenario was not worth the time that would be wasted. There was still the dead line that Gaara set up, and if he felt like being a complete ass the "dire consequences" that Neji alluded to would come to pass.

With a sigh Ten Ten tested how deeply the power struggle was being waged. Slowly she put her hand directly between the two and waved her hand up and down, making sure to pass over their eyes two or three times. Neither man even blinked.

Ten Ten then rolled her eyes and huffed out a breath. Then, with a deceptively slow motion she snaked her right hand behind Neji's head and her left behind Gaara's. She waited a second to see if the two would notice their impending doom.

They didn't. So with lightning speed she brought her hands together, and incidentally crashed Gaara's forehead into Neji's nose. The surprised undignified squawks they made were enough to more than make up for the missed amusement she would have gotten from Lee's actions.

Lee handed a handkerchief to Nevi that he kept with him at all times for just such an occasion. Neji accepted it with a nod and turned his glare to Ten Ten.

"If you guys are done flirting..." Ten Ten drawled, pretty used to Neji's glares.

"Is she always this impertinent?" Gaara asked Neji and Lee, completely ignoring her.

"The Spring time of youth is strong within her," Lee confirmed solemnly. Neji just nodded curtly.

"She is," Ten Ten answered with a grin. "And if you continue to talk about her as if she weren't here, she'll show you some of the strange and terrifying things she can do with just a rubber band and some finger paint."

Gaara just raised an eyebrow and proceeded to spend the rest of the conversation on topic. Neji told him everything that they had decided to tell him. Which was that the princess was alive the last time any of them had seen her and that she probably wasn't going to be showing up any time soon.

"Why not?" Gaara asked quietly. His tone sent a shiver down her spine.

"Unfortunately that information is to be given out on a need to know basis," Neji answered gravely.

"I need to know," Gaara growled.

"No, you just want to know," Neji answered.

The conversation ended when Gaara got up and walked away from the table with Ten Ten following. He wasn't happy with the information he was given, but there really wasn't anything he could do about it at the moment. He knew he didn't get all of the information, but he also knew that he wasn't lied to.

* * *

Hinata had a difficult time going to sleep that night. She hadn't noticed it earlier when she had taken her nap, but the sleeping room was shared by everybody. This would be the first time ever that she shared a room with people. It was rather exciting!

She had over heard some of the servants talking about something they called a "sleep over" once. Where everybody stayed up late and told ghost stories. Hinata was very much looking forward to it. But that didn't happen. At first it seemed like it would, because there was talking and laughter, but suddenly as though a switch had been flipped, everyone was laying down and closing their eyes. Before she knew it the lights were off and the quiet had been replaced by snores of varying volumes.

Once the excitement wore off, everything else seemed to keep her awake. She lay on the mattress that was firmer than she was used to with her eyes closed in a vain attempt to trick her mind into thinking it was already asleep.

Everything was new. Her environment, the people around her, her status. Even the food she was ate was new. All the good thoughts swirled around her mind making her smile only to be chased away by the bad thoughts. But the good thoughts weren't giving up with out a fight!

'They're so nice... for now. I've never had to do a job before... but you're finally going to be useful, which is what you've always wanted. Or you'll do horribly and they'll kick you out... but they're all so nice that I don't think they'd do something like that...' On and and her thoughts chased one another, until finally she must have fallen asleep, because the next thing she knew there was a strange, persistent ringing sound that didn't go away.

Something was thrown, it sounded soft and soon grumbling joined the ringing. Finally there was a pointed clearing of the throat from above her. Hinata took this to mean that she wouldn't be getting any more sleep so she crawled out from under her covers and peeked out of the curtain.

She found that the source of the ringing was a small clock by the door. No one seemed to be getting up to turn it off however. Were they still sleeping? That can't be right. They were talking to each other. If Hinata concentrated she could understand exactly what they were saying.

"Dickless' missed."

"Don't call me Dickless, Asshat."

"Will someone just get off their lazy ass and take care of it?"

"You're one to talk about lazy asses," there was a chuckle from everyone at this last comment.

Hinata was confused by their exchange, but it was too early to make a fuss. Instead she just got up, walked across the room and stared at the ringing clock. She had never seen anything like it before. There seemed to be two bell on top of it and a little hammer thing hitting them one after the other. She stared at it for several seconds before deciding that the easiest way to deal with the noise was to leave.

Besides, didn't she have breakfast to make? After all, this was the first day of work she'd ever had. What should she make for everyone?

Maybe pancakes... but there was no syrup... well, she could make some. All she needed was brown sugar and some water... So pancakes it was.

She hummed happily as she made her way to the bathroom. She needed to take care of some things before she would allow herself into the kitchen. Chef was always particular about hygiene and presentation. If she were to slack off now, even though he wasn't here, she would be letting him and everyone else who allowed her into the kitchen at the castle down.

Quickly she took care of her morning grooming and changed out of her pajamas into one of her new outfits. When she left the bathroom, she noticed that there was a line forming. Everyone looked rumpled and sleepy. They were still in their pajamas except for Sai, who might have been naked. He was standing between Chouji and Naruto, so she couldn't see very clearly. Not that she wanted to see him naked. It was just that she wanted to know if he was naked so that she wouldn't wonder about it later...

"G-good morning," she said, suddenly remembering that she had manners. It was very impolite to stare at people. They were probably disappointed in her for being so rude.

"Good morning Princess," Sai answered smiling. Hinata froze. 'They Knew!!!' "That's your new nickname. I give everybody nicknames, because that's a good way to make friends."

"O-oh," Hinata stuttered. Her heart was beating too loudly to completely understand all of his words, but it sounded like it meant that he didn't know that she really was a princess. But, everyone was staring at her now. She had to leave before something else happened.

"I-I b-better go st-start br-breakfast," she excused herself.

There was an awkward silence that followed when Hinata left. All eyes turned to the grinning boy, who was still looking entirely too pleased with himself, despite the heat of the glares from his friends.

"Nice going Asshat!" Naruto snarled. He tried to slap Sai in the back of the head, but Sai dodged. Naruto ended up smacking Chouji's shoulder instead. Chouji just snorted, being an easy going guy.

"I called her Princess because that's what she is," Sai stated. Everyone but Naruto froze up. Naruto wasn't supposed to know that yet. "She's kind and gracious enough to agree to live with you cavemen and clean up after you. Don't you think her nickname should reflect that? What better nickname than Princess, which is the highest social position a young woman can achieve."

"Princess isn't the highest social position a woman can achieve," Kiba argued, completely missing the main focus of the discussion. "Queen is."

"So you want her nickname to be the same word used to describe gay men?" Shino asked quietly, further derailing the conversation.

"I never said that," Kiba argued, "I was just pointing out that Princess isn't the highest social position for a young woman. Besides I don't think you can "achieve" being a princess. It's something that you're born into. Not something that you earn."

"Hmm," Chouji said, "I wonder then, what is the highest social position a young woman can earn."

"President," Shikamaru answered before disappearing into the bathroom. No one else seemed to be in a rush to get to breakfast now.

"But, guys can become presidents too," Naruto argued.

"No one said a guy couldn't also earn that position," Chouji pointed out reasonably.

"This is stupid," Sasuke grumbled, shutting everybody up. It was best not to piss Sasuke off before breakfast. He had low blood sugar or something and tended to be particularly vicious when he had an empty stomach.

In the silence that followed they realized that Shikamaru, who took forever in the bathroom, was the first person to enter. At that moment they smelled the breakfast that Hinata was preparing. They began banging on the door to get Shikamaru to hurry up.

In the kitchen Hinata was beginning to calm down. 'It's only a nickname. He doesn't know that you're a real princess. They aren't going to send you back to the palace,' she assured herself as she took out the ingredients to make pancakes.

She soothed herself by worrying about the serving sizes for the boys. She herself was usually full after two pancakes and some bacon, but she had the feeling that the boys would want more. Plus, they didn't have bacon yet. Chouji said that that was to arrive later this afternoon.

If she made too little they would be hungry and probably fire her for incompetence... but if she made too much they could fire her for wasting food... Of course if she made too much she could always use the extra batter later.

With that in mind she got to work. It was a little nerve wracking actually. She had never had to cook for other people. Usually any food she made was for herself. Would they like it? Would she be so nervous that she made a mistake?

A deep cleansing breath and a bowl full of freshly mixed batter later, Hinata finally poured the first dollop onto the waiting pan. True to tradition, the first pancake was lumpy, so Hinata decided that that would be hers. But after that, it was smooth going.

By the time the first hungry breakfast eater arrived, freshly scrubbed and yawning, Hinata had made enough pancakes so that everybody could have one. She was starting on the second batch when Shikamaru, the first to arrive, asked her for something she hadn't thought of.

"Any coffee?"

For a moment Hinata's world crumbled. Any peace of mind she received from making her first batch of pancakes was shattered into a million pieces with those two words. She didn't know what to do.

"C-coffee?" she asked, hoping that she would remember how to stop panicking at any moment.

"Yeah," Shikamaru answered, sitting down and resting his arms on his head.

"N-not yet," Hinata answered, going over to the cupboard where she had put the coffee the night before. It was where it was supposed to be, and so was the coffee maker and the coffee filters. Now she just had to remember how those three things went together.

"What's burning?" a new voice asked.

In her rush to save the poor pancake, Hinata dropped the bag of coffee and went running to the stove. What was burning was the first in her second batch of pancakes. It was black on one side and completely raw on the other. She turned off the stove, cleared the frying pan of any left over burnt pancakes, re-greased it and poured the next pancake onto the surface.

But nothing was happening. There was no comforting sound of sizzling. The pancake didn't become firm then fluffy. It just stayed as wet goop sitting in the middle of the frying pan.

A quiet voice from directly behind her said, "The stove isn't on." Hinata jumped and turned around. Shino was standing behind her, gathering coffee mugs from the cupboard. He then moved to the coffee maker.

"O-oh," Hinata blushed and stuttered, turning back to the ice cold stove. She fumbled with the stove for a bit but finally got it going again. Someone else had taken the plates with the one pancake each and distributed them along with the butter and syrup. Everyone had finished their first pancake when the second batch of pancakes and magic coffee were ready.

Hinata wasn't sure where the coffee came from, but she would worry about that later, because she was busy making a third batch of pancakes and possibly a fourth. Finally, after what seemed like ages, everyone was full of pancakes and coffee.

"Thanks Princess," Sai smiled putting his plate and empty cup in the sink.

Behind him was Kiba, "It was great Princess," he offered, moving closer to Hinata suddenly. Hinata backed away, unsure of what he was doing. Kiba just smiled and put his dirty dishes in the sink. One by one everyone filled the sink with dirty dishes and Hinata's self esteem with praise.

It wasn't enough to completely erase the the debacle that was breakfast from her memory, but it was enough to make her more determined to get it right. It also made her relax. They weren't going to throw her out anytime soon, even if she did make mistakes.

After shopping and eating ramen for the first time in her life, but before it became dark, Hinata took inventory of the pantry, which was pretty bare before they put all their purchases in, and the garden. Now she had a pretty good idea of what she had to work with. She was thinking that because today would mostly be spent cleaning, she would do sandwiches for lunch. Now all she needed to know was what time lunch would be.

Everyone was gathered in the living room, which looked like a war zone still. The damage from Chouji and Sai's argument the other day was still there as well as all the messes that the guys had made up to and past that point for the last month or so. That was the last time Chouji said they attempted to tidy up.

"U-um, wh-when d-do y-you all us-sually have l-lunch?" she asked quietly, hoping that she wasn't intruding on anything important.

"We don't usually eat lunch here. Yesterday was a lucky fluke," Sai answered, with his smile firmly in place.

"O-oh," Hinata answered. "D-do y-you n-need me to m-make l-lunches?"

"Not today," Shikamaru answered. "We'll take care of it today. But from tomorrow on we will."

"O-okay," she answered uncertainly. She was going to be alone. "T-then w-what time sh-should I h-have d-dinner r-ready?"

"Chouji can answer that. It's his turn to stay in," Sasuke answered testily. "Can we leave already?"

Hinata blinked at the tone. He seemed rather grumpy. Last night they had warned her that he was surly before breakfast, but he had just eaten... Did that mean that it was bad? Even though he had several servings and asked for seconds many times.

"Keep your pants on Grumpy," Kiba answered, slinging an arm over Sasuke's shoulder. Sasuke glared at the other man before shrugging of the arm and leaving the room. Hinata suspected that he might have been in a huff, but she wasn't sure.

"Dude," Naruto grumbled. "Thanks a lot. Now I get to spend the rest of the day with that."

"You're welcome," Kiba answered with a huge grin. "Glad I could help."

One by one everyone except Chouji left. They each said goodbye very politely and ordered her to have a good day.

There was an awkward silence once every was gone. Chouji didn't seem to know what to do and neither did Hinata. They stood there, looking at one another unsure of what needed to be done.

Eventually Chouji cleared his throat, "I have some paper work that I need to do. If you have any questions I'll be in the study." He walked over to a door that Hinata hadn't noticed before. It lead to a tiny room, that unlike any of the other rooms in the house was actually clean. Needless to say Hinata was confused by this. She didn't say anything because it wasn't really any of her business.

Hinata stood alone in the messy room staring at the closed door. Slowly her eyes slid away from the door and to the rest of her surroundings. There was dust everywhere, boxes, clothes, toys, books, and other things in piles all around the room. The couch and chairs had been lost long ago under a pile of coats, pillows and blankets, and every available flat surface was covered in paper, more books, dirty dishes, and nicknacks of all shapes and sizes.

She thought of the day to come and the battle she would fight against the clutter. Maybe she should start with the dishes in the kitchen, then tackle the living room. While that was happening she could start some laundry. Then it would be time for lunch...

She took a deep breath and nodded to herself. Time to earn a living.


End file.
